The profusion of electronic records in the modern enterprise has led companies to own or use a profusion of multiple database systems for electronic record storage. The result of this database profusion is that information related to a single topic or a single inquiry is spread across multiple databases and is difficult to concentrate in a single location for integrated use. These multiple database systems are frequently incompatible. As a result, a search for records related to a single topic may involve multiple searches in multiple database systems, and each database system may be tied to a different search engine with different rules for search execution. Each search engine may require a different query format. Significant incompatibilities between different database formats and different search query formats exist. Existing tools fail to provide a user interface to generate a single search query and have that search query applied by multiple search engines to multiple databases. Existing tools create an environment in which significant lost time costs are inflicted on the enterprise by search queries that must be applied to multiple databases in order to deliver a comprehensive picture of the information environment.
As an example, a hypothetical situation might exist in which the annual compensation review of a sales employee required data to be retrieved from both a “sales performance” database and a “benefits” database. A frequent problem in dealing with this hypothetical situation is that the “benefits” database requires a different query format than the “sales performance” database. When dealing with information spread across multiple databases attached to multiple search engines, multiple search requests must be entered. The entry of multiple requests costs the enterprise creates cost in terms of the dollar value of the time invested in the creation and execution of multiple search requests. The entry of multiple requests costs the enterprise creates cost in terms of the lost opportunities relating to searches that failed to find the correct information or failed to find the correct information in a timely manner.